Tarpon and Redfish @ Top Secret Bridge 10/1

Started at Swoope Ramp last night to roundup some finger mullet. The plan was to freeline the mullet for some snook at area bridges. Didn't find very much mullet, good thing I had a few leftover from a few nights ago. Started heading towards the flat bridge in Port Orange, only 5-10 minutes away, but it started pouring rain on the way there. I parked near the flat bridge with hopes the rain would stop but no luck. Started working my way back towards New Smyrna and the rain stopped. With a break in the weather, I decided to stop by Top Secret Bridge for a quick freeline or two. After all this I finially started fishing around midnight. Tide was outgoing and near slack tide. Had one bite before the tide slacked, then I caught a back to back 18" Redfish and Tarpon. Ran out of finger mullet so I used a few mud minnows from my bait tank. With the mud minnows I hooked into two bigger tarpon that jumped and spit the hook. Had to go so that was it, I could stay out there all night if I didn't have to work in the morning. :)

First TARPON! Explosive Night @ Top Secret Bridge 8/27

Got a late start but finially met up with Zack at his house around 10:15pm and headed out to the new ramp (Swoope) to find bait. Our fishing location would depends on what kind of bait we obtain from the castnet. When we pulled into the ramp and after 30 minutes we netted around 15 live finger mullet. The candy of all baitfish! With the best bait in the world in the livewell bucket, I made the call to hitup my top secret spot where the snook and tarpon are catchable on the right tide and with the right bait. Best on an incoming tide with live finger mullet. I wasn't sure which way the tide would be moving at that spot, but only one way to find out. Took the short drive further inland to a local bay that is untouched at night. Found the tide was incoming when I peeked over into the water, yay! The gameplan here is to freeline and drift a live mullet. I found that dropping the bait straight down alongside the bridge and letting it drift out worked best. Once the bait drifted out I would reel in and drop the bait back alongside the bridge. Open bail worked best, just feeling the line with my finger.
It didn't take long to get my first hit but it came unbuttoned pretty quick. Got another hit and finially got a fish on. It was my first ever tarpon! It was a little guy but it put on a show before posing for pics. It made a giant leap out of the water that had to have been 8-10 ft high, no joke. And it's shallow water too, I don't see how thats possible but we both witnessed it almost hit a tree branch. Here's a photo of my first tarpon...



Then after midnight I get my second and bigger tarpon on live mullet! Here's a few pics of that one...





Zack got in on the action and caught his first tarpon as well!

South Causeway NSB - Whiting, Bluefish, Jacks, Tarpon

Last night at NSB was full of surprises throughout the night. I arrived at 9:00PM and Kyle/Tara came about 10:30 in the evening. I purchased 50 small shrimp from the bait shop and started out with 2/0 Kahle hooks. Not long after Kyle and Tara came out is when I caught my first Whiting! It was small but still a keeper. While I left to get some ice and drinks, Tara caught a small stingray and another kid caught a bigger whiting. Understanding that whiting usually travel in schools, I switched to a dual hook dropper loop rig and downsized my hooks. Now I was using two #2 Owners Mutu Light circle hooks with small pieces of fresh dead shrimp. I caught croaker, pinfish, and finially another whiting that was similar size to the other one I caught. Here's the two Whiting I caught...



Then around 1 AM we were there to witness someone catch a Tarpon very close to the pier. It put on a display of splashing jumps and vigorous head shaking as they grabbed the dropnet which helps raise fish from high piers. As soon as they got it up, they had to quickly dehook it and let it go. These tarpon don't fare well out of the water so they were in a hurry to get it back ASAP. Not only that, it's illegal to possess or harvest tarpon without a permit which runs about $50. Here's Big Gene holding the tarpon a few seconds before it's release...



Me and Kyle stuck it out all night at the pier. We were curious to see what the first morning bite would bring. Big Gene was telling us about the exploding jacks and blues running early in the morning around sunrise, so we wanted to get in on the action. He hooked us up with some tips and got our lines ready. The breakfast menu was live mullet and pinfish fished on the bottom. Just after 6:30am it started, and for about 20 minutes the fishing was INSANE! Gene pulled in 3 Crevalle Jacks and 1 Bluefish. I landed 2 Bluefish, one of which was the biggest one at 21" long! The 21" blue is my personal best too. Kyle hooked up with a fish but it ran over to the pilings and broke his line. He got to feel the big strong pull though and said it almost took his rod in the water. The long stay at the pier was exhuasting but I'd say it was worth it. We saw whiting, small catfish, small stingrays, tarpon, some bluefish, and crevalle jacks.